Stroke victim dies after being found in filthy conditions
A 67-year-old stroke victim has died more than a month after being found in what paramedics described as some of the worst living conditions they had seen.
Mary C. Tolliver died Tuesday at Deaconess Medical Center, where she was taken Aug. 7 when relatives found her lodged between her bed and a wall, covered in cat feces and garbage.
Doctors told police that Tolliver had suffered a recent stroke, kidney failure, anemia, malnutrition, dehydration, a bleeding stomach ulcer, complications of diabetes, an inflamed pancreas, a hairline shoulder fracture, bed sores and skin problems caused by poor hygiene.
Tolliver was unable to communicate with police Detective Brian Hamond, who has been investigating Tolliver’s daughter, 38-year-old Lois M. Tolliver, on suspicion of first-degree criminal mistreatment. Lois Tolliver had been living in Mary Tolliver’s home in the 1300 block of North Nettleton. Lois Tolliver told Hamond she hadn’t mistreated or intentionally neglected her mother. She said she moved in with her mother about a year ago to help her mother and to give herself a place to live, according to search warrant documents.
Hamond was unavailable for comment Thursday, but people familiar with Lois Tolliver told The Spokesman-Review she is mentally disabled although that may not readily be apparent.
Her brother, Frank Tolliver, who is in prison in Iowa, said in a letter that she shouldn’t have been taking care of their mother “because she can’t even take care of herself.”
“My sister had two children that were taken out of her custody due to the fact she couldn’t take care of them,” Frank Tolliver wrote. “She was also in a mental institution for a period of time.”
Lance Morehouse, director of advocacy and family support for The Arc, confirmed Thursday that he has contacted Hamond and the state Division of Adult Protective Services to report that Lois Tolliver had been a client of his organization and “may have had cognitive problems.”
Privacy restrictions prevented Morehouse from saying more, but The Arc provides services and support to people with developmental disabilities.
Frank Tolliver noted, as Hamond did in court documents, that the Division of Adult Protective Services conducted an inconclusive investigation last December into allegations that Lois Tolliver abused and neglected her mother.
State officials knew his sister’s mental condition, Frank Tolliver said, “and yet they let my sister reside at my mother’s home to take care of her. One has to question why they did that and why there was no follow-up done.”
No spokesman for the state agency was available for comment Thursday evening.